“The town of Dijon, in Burgundy, was, in the year 1558, afflicted with a violent plague, which cut off the inhabitants so fast that there was not time for each dead person to have a separate grave; for which reason large pits were made and filled with as many bodies as they could contain. In this deplorable conjuncture, Mrs. Nicole Tentillet shared the common fate, and after labouring under the disorder for some days, fell into a syncope so profound that she was taken for dead, and accordingly buried in a pit with the other dead bodies. The next morning after her interment she returned to life, and made the strongest efforts to get out, but was held down by the weight of the bodies with which she was covered. She remained in this wretched condition for four days, when the grave-diggers took her out and carried her to her own house, where she recovered perfectly.” Following this case, that of a labouring man of Courçelles, near Neuchâtel, is narrated. He fell into so profound syncope that he was taken for dead; but the persons who were putting him into his grave without a coffin, perceived some motion in his shoulders, for which reason they carried him to his own home, where he perfectly recovered. This accident laid the foundation for his being called the ghost of Courçelles.
“A lawyer of Vesoul, a town of Franche-Comté, near Besançon, so carefully concealed a lethargy, to which he was subject, that nobody knew anything of his disorder, though the paroxysms returned very frequently. The motive which principally induced him to this secrecy was the dread of losing a lady to whom he was just about to be married. Being afraid, however, lest some paroxysm should prove fatal to him, he communicated his case to the Sheriff of the town, who, by virtue of his office, was obliged to take care of him if such a misfortune should happen. The marriage was concluded, and the lawyer for a considerable time enjoyed a perfect state of health, but at last was seized with so violent a paroxysm of the disease that his lady, to whom he had not revealed the secret, not doubting his death, ordered him to be put in his coffin. The Sheriff, though absent when the paroxysm seized him, luckily returned in time to preserve him; for he ordered the interment to be delayed, and the lawyer, returning to life, survived the accident sixteen years.”
Another case is that of a certain person who was conveyed to the church in order to be interred, but one of his friends sprinkling a large quantity of holy water on his face, which was covered, he not only returned to life, but also resumed a perfect state of health.
This writer subjoins other histories of persons who, being interred alive, have expired in their graves and tombs, as has afterwards been discovered by various marks made, not only in their sepulchres, but also in their own bodies. He in a particular manner mentions a young lady of Auxbourg, who, falling into a syncope, in consequence of a suffocation of the matrix, was buried in a deep vault, without being covered with earth, because her friends thought it sufficient to have the vault carefully shut up. Some years after, however, one of the family happened to die; the vault was opened, and the body of the young lady found on the stairs at its entry, without any fingers on the right hand.
It is recorded in “Tr. de Aere et Alim. defect.,” cap. vii., that a certain woman was hanged, and in all appearances was dead, who was nevertheless restored to life by a physician accidentally coming in and ordering a plentiful administration of sal ammoniac.
Another case of hanging is the story of Anne Green, executed at Oxford, December 14, 1650. She was hanged by the neck for half an hour, some of her friends thumping her on the breast, others hanging with all their weight upon her legs, and then pulling her down again with a sudden jerk, thereby the sooner to despatch her out of her pain. After she was in her coffin, being observed to breathe, a lusty fellow stamped with all his force on her breast and stomach to put her out of pain. But by the assistance of Dr. Petty, Dr. Willis, Dr. Bathurst, and Dr. Clark, she was again brought to life.
Kornmann, in his treatise “De Miraculis Mortuorum,” relates the following history:—“Saint Augustine, from Saint Cirille, informs us that a Cardinal of the name of Andrew having died in Rome in the presence of several bystanders, was next day conveyed to the church, where the Pope and a body of the clergy attended service in order to do honour to his memory. But to their great surprise, after some groans, he recovered his life and senses. This event was at the time looked upon as a miracle, and ascribed to Saint Jerome to whom the Cardinal was greatly attached.”
The following account seems more to resemble a miracle, though we do not find that it was looked upon as such:—“Gocellinus, a young man, and nephew to one of the Archbishops of Cologne, falling into the Rhine, was not found for fifteen days after, but was discovered to be alive as he lay before the shrine of Saint Guibert.”
Persons curious or incredulous upon the dangers of precipitate burials may, for their satisfaction, have recourse to the medical observations of Forestus; those of Amatus Lusitanus; the chirurgical observations of William Fabri; the treatise of Levinus Lemnius on the secret miracles of Nature; the observations of Schenkins; the medico-legal questions of Paul Zacchias; Albertinus Bottonus’s treatise of the Disorders of Women; Terilli’s treatise on the Causes of Sudden Death; Lancisi’s treatise Concerning Deaths, and Kornmann’s treatise on the Miracles of the Dead. These authors furnish us with a great variety of the most palpable and flagrant instances of the uncertainty of the signs of death. As examples of the possibility of even great anatomists being imposed upon by these fallacious signs, the two following accidents are given:—
“Andreas Vesalius, successively first physician to Charles the Fifth and his son Philip the Second of Spain, being persuaded that a certain Spanish gentleman, whom he had under management, was dead, asked liberty of his friends to lay open his body. His request being granted, he no sooner plunged his dissecting-knife in the body than he observed signs of life in it, since, upon opening the breast, he saw the heart palpitating. The friends of the deceased, horrified by the accident, pursued Vesalius as a murderer; and the judges inclined that he should suffer as such. By the entreaties of the King of Spain, he was rescued from the threatening danger, on condition that he would expiate his crime by undertaking a voyage to the Holy Land.”